1. Deadline for AdCom Candidacy Petitions Extended to August 15

It has been pointed out that the Society By-Laws specify August 15 as the due date for petitions for AdCom candidacy. Therefore, the due date for AdCom candidacy petitions is extended to August 15.

2. IEEE RAS Fellowship for Women in Robotics and Automation

Announcement and Call for Proposals:

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society is sponsoring a fellowship for a female Ph.D. student in the areas of robotics and/or automation, to be expended before the end of the 2008 calendar year. Proposals for the â€œ2008 IEEE RAS Fellowshipâ€ are now solicited. This fellowship is intended to support a student who will have a significant future impact on the fields of robotics and/or automation. The primary evaluation criteria are the applicantâ€™s past research accomplishments and potential for future technical contributions. Thus, it is anticipated that the successful applicant will be a student who is fairly advanced in her academic program. In 2007 (the first year in which this fellowship was offered), there were 38 applicants. The winner and honorable mentions are listed on the RAS Newspage

Award: The fellowship carries an award of $12,500 to be used for stipend or tuition support, and we require that the funds be fully obligated by November 1, 2008 for supporting a student up to but not beyond December 31, 2008. The fellowship does not continue beyond the end of the calendar year.

Eligibility: Female doctoral students who are fully admitted to a Ph.D. program at an academic institution are eligible to apply. The nominee and nominator must be IEEE RAS members. The applicant must be a registered student for at least the period September-November 2008. The proposal should be submitted through the sponsored projects office of the applicant's institution. Applicants and their faculty advisors are urged to contact their institution's sponsored projects office before beginning the application process to verify that the institution is willing to administer this award under the constraints described below. IEEE will review the institutional approval; no funds will be released unless the method of spending and invoicing meets IEEE approval.

Proposal: The proposal must include the following information (in a single pdf file, in the order shown):

. Name, affiliation, mailing address, email address, and phone number of an authorized representative of the institution (from the institution's sponsored projects office)

The following statement, undersigned by the authorized representative listed above: "The institution that I represent is willing to administer this award under the constraints mandated by IEEE. We agree to waive any indirect (facilities or administrative) costs for this fellowship. We will invoice the full amount of the Fellowship to IEEE RAS on or before November 1, 2008." (Scan page so hand-written signature is shown in pdf file.) Instructions for billing will be provided to the winner.

A nomination letter from the applicant's Ph.D. advisor or other person who has first-hand knowledge of the applicant's background, field of interest, and qualifications. Nominators who have other sources of funds to enable support for the applicant for the remainder of the full academic year are preferred. (1 page maximum, 12-point font)

Description of the applicant's background, field of interest, and qualifications for the fellowship in narrative form, written by the applicant. (1 page maximum, 12-point font)

Professor Nancy Amato Texas A&M University This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

3. RAS Website to be upgraded June 27-28

The Robotics and Automation Society Homepage www.ieee-ras.org will go line this Friday June 27 while the webteam replaces it with the new redesigned site. They plan to be back online Monday. We regret the inconvenience but urge you to come back next week and see the new page!